


The manual enemy

by Jar_of_stories



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Driving education, Gladio can't drive, I love manuals, Ignis Scientia is a Good Friend, Ignis Scientia is the Best, Ignis Scientia to the Rescue, Manuals are evil, Momma Ignis, Nobody is Dead, Noctis panics, Not Beta Read, Tags Are Hard, We all know it, i'm too tired for this, pls read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:35:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25289911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jar_of_stories/pseuds/Jar_of_stories
Summary: Before the Imperials became Noctis' first enemy, there was greater one: the manual gearbox.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	The manual enemy

“Specs! I’m home!”, Noctis called into the apartment, taking his shoes off.

“Good evening, Noct”, the always calm and warm voice answered from the kitchen.

Who would have thought?

The prince entered the kitchenette where the older boy was cleaning the dishes while supervising the food on the pan.

“How was your day, Highness?”, Ignis asked without turning towards him.

“Business as always”, he mumbled in response, plopping down on one of the bar stools.

“Well, may I ask about your theory exam for your driving license?”, his Advisor chimed, putting away pristine plate on the dryer.

“Passed. 98%, Specs!”, the prince finally came to life as he stated the score with pride in his voice.

“My congratulations, Noct”, Ignis praised, offering him a quick yet warm smile, the pride in his eyes unmistakable. He then turned to whatever was on the pan. He hummed in reluctant approval and reached for a plate. “I think your practical exam will go just as well.”

Noctis winced unbeautifully but said nothing.

The truth was, he felt completely unprepared to that part of the driver’s education. The prince usually drove automatics and his exam was supposed to be on the manual gearbox. And that was the main issue: the clutch pedal demanded a lot of proficiency he did not have.

The worst in this situation was that he didn’t know who he should ask for help. His dad was too busy being the king to prioritise his son’s driving exam above kingdom’s crucial issues. He thought about asking Cor but the Marshal was definitely swamped with Crownsguard’s business. And, to be honest, Noctis wasn’t looking for Cor’s answer – the man was far too non – bullshit type for that kind of thing.

Prompto hasn’t even start his driver’s education yet. Noct asked him about it and the only thing he got from him was dodgy “It’ll just make me lazy. Y’know, driving instead of walking to the school? I’ll pass.”

Gladio had the license but he _couldn’t_ drive at all. He remembered when Ignis reluctantly agreed to take a car ride with Gladio behind the wheel when his Shield got his plastic. Poor Iggy was sick for _a week_ after that. _That_ Ignis Scientia – the same Ignis who only went down with a flu every year, surprisingly in the summer and who was unfazed while cleaning fish or he was attending to Gladio’s often gory injuries from “training”.

“You seem troubled.”

Noctis jumped upon Ignis’ voice. He turned to the older boy, who was leaning against the counter, drying his hands with chequered towel, looking at him with mixture of polite interest and worry, with his head slightly cocked to the left. Iggy could be as elegant in apron and casual clothes as he was in his Citadel attire.

It was all in the glasses. It had to be.

“Nah, I’m fine”, Noct tried to brush it off, trying to eat his dinner. Not that his appetite was all the way there.

“Then it must be a really bad case of abdominal influenza since you pick at ‘mother and child’ rice bowl”, Ignis observed with cold sarcasm in his voice.

“It’s ‘stomach flu’ for normal people”, Noctis mumbled, still digging in his dinner.

“Noctis.”

And the prince knew: Ignis won’t have his attitude right now. He could be as stern as he was gentle.

Noct slowly met the tough, green look.

“I do not ask you to share everything with me. I merely ask that you do not lie”, the ever patient Advisor explained and readjusted his glasses, which added to his implacable look.

“Sorry, Iggy.”

That seemed to smooth his ruffled feathers, telling from his quiet sigh.

“I promise it’s nothing major or serious”, Noct tried to ease his friend’s mind further.

“I know. Otherwise I’d be at the Citadel, receiving severe punishment from my supervisors, if not His Majesty himself”, Ignis replied in acrid manner, canalising the rest of his passive – aggressiveness.

“It’s just…”, Noct started but didn’t know how to continue. He didn’t want to come over as a loser or idiot in Ignis’ books but at the same time his flatmate had the best ideas how to solve a problem.

Thank the Astrals Specs didn’t press matters and patiently waited for his charge to spill his guts.

If he wasn’t some kind of angel in disguise, Noct didn’t know what was the cause of the endless patience of the gentle four – eye.

“… every car I practise is automatic and I’m supposed to drive a manual. And I have no idea what to do now.”

“… oh.”

That was the weirdest answer Ignis ever gave him. His “oh” sounded completely dumbfounded, just as if Iggy completely didn’t expect such a problem.

That worried Noct more than the prospect of his driving exam. Ignis had a solution for _every_ problem, even the most bizarre one. It was _really_ disturbing when the person with 1001 solutions ready for one problem sounded like _that_ one problem completely didn’t cross his mind.

The prince felt like a complete idiot. Of _course_ such a problem didn’t cross Ignis’ mind! What a moron couldn’t drive a manual?! It’s not as if behaves differently on the road. The only thing you have to remember is to use clutch when changing the gear. Or braking. Or starting. And reversing.

And basically every time you wanted to do something.

“I thought it was something connected to the exams in the next two weeks.”

Noct jumped again at the unexpected sound of Ignis’ voice. He looked up at the boy, who was looking out of the window with rather carefree expression on his face.

“If you would like, I can take you for a ride, so you can practise on manual gearbox.”

Noct slightly budged, taken aback by the offer of his Advisor.

“Really?”, he blurted out, unable to think of something more intelligent.

“As long as you promise not to cause any accident and eat you dinner – yes, I’m more than eager.”

“Thanks, Specs”, the prince smiled with appreciation to his Advisor, who mirrored his smile.

***

After an hour they both were sitting in Ignis’ car, tooling along with its owner behind the wheel. There was some classical music playing from the almost muted radio. The atmosphere was light and almost peaceful, not counting Noct becoming more and more anxious when he observed his Advisor’s confident and fluid movements.

Ignis seemed to drive without any thinking process, just as if he was born with the ability to operate the manual car. Turn the blinker on, gear down and make the smoothest turn the Insomnia saw while declutching, accelerate, clutch, shift up, declutch and continue. Repeat if necessary.

“How do you do it?”, Noctis asked before he could stop himself.

“Proficiency, I suppose”, his Advisor answered with apologetic shrug of his shoulders.

He stopped the car in the small parking lot, put it at the idle, pulled up the handbrake, turned off the lights and finally, the engine.

“Ready?”, he turned towards his charge.

“No”, Noctis managed to choke out. Ignis chuckled warmly.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a lot to say in that manner. Let’s change, shall we?”

And thus the prince ended in the driver seat of his Advisor’s SUV, gripping the wheel tightly. He prayed to the Astrals not to cause any accident and destroy Iggy’s car.

“Prepare your seat and start the engine when you are ready.”

Noctis swallowed nervously and started to adjust the seat and mirrors, so he could see anything. Ignis was _much_ taller than Noct _thought_ he was.

“Isn’t the seat a tad too high?”, his Advisor asked, eyeing the prince’s position.

“No, I see fine. Your car is higher than the one I’ll be examined in.”

“That is acceptable. When you are ready, please start the engine.”

Noct inhaled deeply and held his breath when he pressed down the clutch pedal and heard the roar of awakened engine.

“For now drive around the parking lot. When you have the general feeling of the car, we can go on the road.”

“On the road?!”, Noctis almost shouted in disbelief.

“Yes, on the road. It is a specific lane of asphalt where cars are obliged by the law to move in specified ways”, Ignis explained in the same, calm manner.

“B – but I’ll get us both killed! O – or just destroy your car!”, Noctis begun to stammer in panic.

“Well, from those two scenarios I choose neither. Now, let’s try the parking lot, shall we?”

That was Ignis’ way of saying “I don’t care, just do what you’re told”. But in more polite and fancy way.

Noctis gripped the wheel tighter and tried to start off but the worst scenario happened: the car bucked and fell still, the engine suddenly quiet. It cut out.

“It is alright”, Ignis reassured him in kind manner. “Don’t rush it, Noct. Slowly let go of the clutch, hold it for a while when the car starts moving and then let it go completely. When the engine rotation isn’t high enough to change the gear, then slowly press the acceleration pedal. Turn off the entire car and start it again.”

The prince did as Ignis told him and slowly declutched the car. To his surprise, it started rolling over slowly.

“Excellent, now hold it for three seconds and then declutch it completely.”

Turned out Ignis was the best driving instructor the world have ever seen. Not only did he teach Noctis how to properly start the manual car but also showed him the easiest way to do a reverse parking without destroying cars in the process.

“How is the driving, Noct?”, Ignis asked lightly, observing as the teen started to enjoy the little “training yard” exercises.

“It’s good!”, the prince answered enthusiastically, shifting to the third gear. “It’s the first time I actually enjoy it.”

“That’s good to hear. Now, why don’t you try your new skills on the road?”, Ignis proposed, relaxed as ever.

Noctis tensed at that but managed to do the smooth turn.

“I don’t know, Ignis. I mean, there are other drivers and they don’t always play by the rules. Besides, it’s your car and I’m a newbie to that.”

“Oh, it’s eight o’clock, Noct. At that hour there is almost no one on the road. You are a freshman in the aspect of driving, yes, however I think you’re doing excellent work”, Ignis summed up casually, leaning his head against his arm next to the window pane.

“Okay. I got this”, Noctis tried to assure himself but it was all in vain – he felt as scared as he felt when taking the driving seat after Ignis.

They got to the exit of the parking which was on the not – so – slight hill.

“Noct, pull up the handbrake, please.”

“Why, what’s wrong?”, the prince panicked as he obeyed.

“Nothing is wrong. I merely wish to explain to you how to effectively start off when you’re on the hill, as we are now.”

“Okay, so what do I do?”

“First of all, shift to the first gear.”, Ignis waited until Noct did as he was told. “Good. Now I need to you to press the acceleration pedal to the degree where you have constant two and a half thousand engine rotations.”

Again, Noctis obeyed with modern difficulty.

“Now slowly declutch to the point where the rotations drop. When they do, simply release the handbrake. If done correctly, the car should slowly start out.”

The prince tensed and swallowed nervously but managed to move the car first time around.

“Ignis, I did it! And the first time around!”, Noctis called enthusiastically, shifting to the second gear.

“Well, congratulations. Now turn left.”, Ignis went back to his instructor – self, pointing his charge in the desired directions.

***

They managed to drive around half of the Insomnia before coming back home at ten o’clock in the evening.

Noctis parked the car in the garage and turned it off before giving the keys to their owner at long last.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”, Ignis asked smugly, stepping out of the vehicle.

“No, it was fun, actually. Thanks, Iggy.”, the prince offered his Advisor the truly thankful smile, bumping his arm in affectionate manner.

Ignis wasn’t a fan of physical shows of affections, like hugging or holding hands but he did appreciate Noctis’ little “displays of love” from time to time – not that they were very often.

The royal protocol was very strict and implacable in term of handling the prince by his Advisor. However, Ignis wasn’t _just_ and Advisor – he knew that. Since His Majesty King Regis had many responsibilities towards the people of Insomnia and war, he had little to no time to take care of Noctis’ upbringing. Of course, there were governesses that watched over Noctis when Ignis was still too young to fulfill the additional responsibilities he was now diligently executing. However, the King placed a great sense of responsibility and duty to fill the gap after the prince’s mother passing in the young Scientia.

That’s why the King himself and his supervisors let those little things slide upon seeing the results of Ignis’ activity, such as great tests results of the young prince or his appropriate behaviour during meetings in the Citadel.

“Always”, was the answer followed by the half – smile of smugness as they both exited the closed garage shoulder to shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for manuals as I can't drive automatics but I understand the pain of learning how to use that thing XD


End file.
